September 17, 2008 Stocks sink in early trading after AIG bailout

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks are tumbling again, with investors still anxious even after the government bailed out American International Group Inc. and Barclays PLC bought a chunk of Lehman Brothers.

While the moves lift some of the uncertainty surrounding two of the most precarious pillars of the U.S. financial system, investors' anxiety is far from erased.

The two Wall Street investment banks left standing - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley - remain under scrutiny. And the troubles in banking could exacerbate the problems facing the U.S. economy.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department says housing starts fell by 6.2 percent in August to the slowest building pace since January 1991.

In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 203 points at the 10,855 level.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)